1. Field of the Invention
The disclosures herein relate to an electromagnetic relay.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electromagnetic relay is known as a device that utilizes an electromagnet to control the open and closed state of contacts. The electromagnetic relay may simply be referred to as a relay. Electric current flowing through the coil of the electromagnet generates a magnetic field, based on which the iron core attracts the armature to cause the fixed contact and the movable contact to come in contact with each other. The resulting “on” state of the electromagnetic relay allows electric current to be supplied. Upon the stoppage of the current supply to the coil, the magnetic field disappears, resulting in the armature being released from the iron core due to the restoring force of a spring. As a result, the movable contact is separated from the fixed contact to cause the “off” state, thereby blocking the electric current supplied through the electromagnetic relay. In recent years, the demand has been increasing for an electromagnetic relay operable at high voltages.
For such an electromagnetic relay, size compactness is required, and so are a sufficiently strong attracting force working against the load of the spring and a sufficiently large insulating distance between the electromagnet and the contacts.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-339623    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-100618    [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-245602